Secrets : Gallifreyan Stardust
by Dr.Dalek
Summary: Theta had always been an inveterate tinkerer though Koschei never appreciated it much... Inspired by Lena Meyer-Landrut's "Stardust". WARNING: slight smut and M/M


A door swung back, creaking ominously.

Koschei blinked; his eyes got adjusted to the darkness surrounding him quite quickly.  
He concentrated on controlling his breathing in order not to attract any unwanted attention.  
The enemy was close. Any unplanned move, no, the smallest _movement_ could blow his cover.  
He reinforced his grip on the weapon.  
Moving on...

Shrouded in absolute deafening silence Koschei inched his way forward.  
Carefully he reached for his two-way radio and whispered the command.

"Target distance: 5 feet. No AWACS. All clear. Shoot on sight. Let's move!"

Koschei took a deep breath before jumping to his feet, taking aim and shouting: "Gotcha!"

The silhouette in front of him didn't move a muscle. Neither did it seem to take any notice of him.

Koschei waited attentively, his broad and proud grin shining in the darkness. Eventually a sigh escaped his lips as he stared at his unfazed vis-à-vis.  
His shoulder sagged as he disposed of his weapon by tossing it onto the bed and ambled over to the door to turn on the lights.  
"Killjoy," he wheezed under his breath before sitting down on the bed beside the immobile figure.  
"Unless you've dropped dead you owe me a good excuse for missing my newest manoeuvre," Koschei grumbled as he folded his arms in front of his chest and turned to face Theta. Who didn't face him at all.

Theta lay on his bed, spread-eagled, his back propped up against the headboard, with an old cloth wrapped around his head.  
He was breathing shallowly and slowly and continued to do so as Koschei removed the rag from his face to reveal the glittering obstacle underneath.  
It was a mask. At least it looked like one.

Koschei regarded the construct which covered most of Theta's head thoughtfully before examining it closely.  
It consisted of at least a dozen million shards of Millennium Titanium, the thinnest albeit most endurable metal on Gallifrey, forming a strange labyrinth-like structure. Between two layers of shatterproof glass the broken fragments were trapped; and yet they appeared to tumble around freely for lack of even the tiniest impulse. They _moved_ on their own accord...  
The mask glistened, shedding its cold light on the room as the shards clicked back and forth rhythmically, reassembling themselves and altering their peculiar pattern.

Koschei tugged at the thing but didn't succeed; it appeared to be screwed directly to Theta's face.  
Which, he figured, could only mean two things:

This structure was either  
a)a great new accomplishment towards trapping the wisdom and entity of the universe itself in a complicated and extremely fragile camera obscura or  
b)someone was agonizingly slowly torturing Theta in an attempt to kill him.  
But since Koschei didn't remember creating anything resembling the invention in front of him the second possibility was highly unlikely to be the right one.

Koschei regarded Theta's stiff body with mild disinterest. He only got up as he caught a glimpse of Theta's ridiculous sonic screwdriver, lying neglected on his working bench.  
Koschei reached for it, tossing it into the air and catching it in mid-fall playfully while treating it to a disdainful look. Sonic screwdriver... as soon as the testing on his new laser device he was working on was complete it would be bye-bye to his friend's ridiculous little gimmicks.  
He shivered in anticipation. Oh, the sad look on Theta's face when he'd find his beloved tool pulverized by his newest invention... his laser screwdriver... who'd have sonic?

Either way for now he would have to make do with _that_ thing.

Koschei pressed the screwdriver against the shatterproof glass and activated it.  
He was prepared for a small explosion, a deafening metallic screeching or even Theta's brain trickling out of his ears; finding the screws falling out with a soft 'clunk' was not only something he hadn't expected but also extremely disappointing. At least a bit smoke could have ascended...

Theta's eyes snapped open with his pupils blown and fixed. He stared right through Koschei as he slowly sat up.  
"Wtssthemennh...nininggg...offff...thiiii...ssss...?" Theta gurgled before his hands clutched at his face, involuntarily slapping his own cheeks thereby. Theta's fingers moved lower, revealing his dilated pupils once again.  
Koschei leaned closer before popping his head to one side while grinning mischievously at Theta.  
He caressed the strange construct in his hands tenderly.  
"What's this?" he asked sweetly while pressing the invention against Theta's face.  
Theta's gaze dropped and refocused as the inclement light caught his eye. He snatched the mask-like thing out of Koschei's hands before tossing it over his shoulder.

"Nothing," he mumbled bluntly.  
"Didn't look like nothing to me," Koschei added, "What is it?"  
"I told you it's nothing," Theta repeated and yawned. His eyebrows knitted as his locked onto Koschei's gaze.  
"You're a terrible liar," Koschei mused, "And you can't keep secrets. Especially not from me. So, what is it?"  
"Stop asking for it," Theta mumbled as Koschei pulled the thing out from under Theta's bed.  
"So it's an 'it'," Koschei deduced, "What is 'it' for?"  
"It's for nothing and let go off that thing you're gonna break it," Theta growled between gritted teeth as Koschei managed to keep his invention out of his reach.  
"It's something for nothing?" Koschei asked, "Or is it nothing for something?"  
"Something like that," Theta retorted crestfallen, "You're driving me insane."

"Well that's something, at least," Koschei sniggered before taking a closer look at Theta's invention.  
"Millennium Titanium," he went on while fending off Theta's weak attempts of regaining his possession with one hand while increasing his grip on the fascinating structure with the other, "The purest metal of them all. It can't be alloyed because it rejects disparate materials. And it appears to have a strange life of its own..."

Theta sighed and folded his arms in front of his chest.  
"You've been reading my secret essays and protocols again, have you?"  
"They're not secret if I can find them," Koschei replied unmoved, turning the mask this way and that way in the light.  
"Stop it," Theta growled while snatching at his invention, "You're ruining it."  
"It's shatterproof glass and Millennium Titanium is probably the only thing even I can't break," Koschei retorted with a smug smile, "I could hit Borusa right over the head with it and it would stay the same. So there's nothing wrong with letting me have a look at your little shenanigans."  
"Even the purest metal will become impure if you touch it," Theta moaned while finally retrieving his invention. He covered it with the cloth almost instantly before shoving it under the pillow.

"Oh, according to _your_ thesis I don't even need to touch it to spoil it," Koschei explained, "You suspect that Millennium Titanium's urge to stay pure, metaphorically speaking, is so strong that it rejects anything, even light, thereby mirroring it involuntarily. You're trying to prove that thereby not only every ray or particle of light is reflected but its _code_ , the information of the objects and elements it has touched and involuntarily carried information about on its endless travel, thereby making it possible to reconstruct the images the light itself has shed light on, if you pardon the pun. In other words it would be possible to see _anything_ the light has ever touched before falling upon the Millennium Titanium if you could only tune in to the right frequency."

Theta stared at Koschei open mouthed before treating Koschei to a death-glare.  
"I didn't note all of this in my papers," he growled accusingly.  
Koschei caressed Theta's temples lovingly. "The mental bond is a great thing."  
"When have you...?"  
"In your sleep," Koschei replied boldly, "And yes it does work when you're unconscious. You never notice it when I rummage around in your thoughts."  
"I don't mind the rummaging around," Theta replied, "It's the tidying up I object to."  
"I try to leave your mind in best order," Koschei defended his actions.  
"My thoughts are always in the _wrong_ order!" Theta snapped.  
"It's the right order for _me_ ," Koschei explained.  
Theta shook his head before resting his face in his hands.

"I don't even want to know what you've been looking at," Koschei added after his attempts to unscrew the two shatterproof layers of glass remained without results.  
"You're just saying this because you want me to tell you about it," Theta snapped, "But _I'm_ not going to tell you anything."  
"As I said before I don't want to know," Koschei repeated sternly before his lips contorted into that terrible little grin of his, "Though I could hazard a guess."

Theta backed away and forced his bent and aching back further against the wall as Koschei leaned closer.  
Koschei traced a vein on Theta's tender neck while he leaned closer.  
"Everything the light touches can be looked at... like a perfect pair of breasts or Ushas' knickers whenever she bothers to change them, which is probably not as frequent as she should."  
"Every one and a half week, to be precise," Theta snapped, "And it's all thanks to you since you've kept stealing her underwear."  
"I didn't," Koschei replied levelly, "I'll make do with yours."  
He cracked one of his malicious smiles.  
"What would you need _my_ underwear for?" Theta asked indignantly.  
Koschei folded his arms in front of his chest again. "Do you really want to know?" he asked earnestly.  
Theta's eyes widened. Eventually he shook his head.  
Koschei sighed while popping his head to one side.  
"Thought so. Either way you're a little pervert."

He'd managed to roll Theta onto his stomach and pinned him down with his weight as he grabbed his arms and pulled them onto his back. Theta's lips escaped a little yelp before he growled the well known Gallifreyan growl of rage, which goes :  
"KOOOOOOSSSSCHEIII!"

"You naughty little boy," Koschei giggled while reinforcing his grip on Theta's wrists, "You've been spying on innocent students, have you?"  
"No, I haven't," hissed Theta through gritted teeth, "and get off me Koschei or I'll pound you."  
"I'd really like to see that," Koschei mused, "Let's face it: you couldn't lay a finger on me if I'd guide your hand. And speaking of hands…"  
Koschei's voice dropped to a low whisper as he shoved his groin into Theta's palms.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, you don't!" Theta blurted out as he felt Koschei's tightened clothes pressing against his hand, "We're not having this now. What am I saying? I'm not going to do any of this kinky stuff ever again!"  
Koschei straddled Theta as he thrust his hips forward and dry-humped his rear end. He growled quietly and with pleasure at the back of his throat, making it sound like a purr.  
"You're such a terrible liar," he whispered into his ear, "And talking about kinky stuff… _you're_ the one who invents machines to see colleagues in the nude."

"No I didn't," Theta moaned into his mattress. The pressure from Koschei's building up erection became nearly unbearable in his palm and to his own surprise he found himself giving Koschei's half-hard member a few experimental strokes through the fabric.  
He bit his lower lip as Koschei picked up the pace to slam vigorously into his body.

"Stop it," Theta grumbled without meaning it.  
"As I said before you're a terrible liar," Koschei teased, "You randy bastard still got a stiffy from seeing all that naked skin, I can feel you synchronizing with my thrusts as you present yourself willingly to me."  
"I did no such thing," Theta protested and added as he felt the beads of sweat forming on his forehead, "And stop making me horny."

"Oh, you didn't?" Koschei asked mockingly as he penetrated Theta's back. To Theta's surprise he felt Koschei releasing his grip on one of his hands as he grabbed his mask-like invention.  
"I bet you even built in a wave-length recognizer so you don't have to start searching again for the same 'images'," Koschei thought out loud, "So I can probably get a glimpse of the last thing you've seen… it was Ushas' knickers, wasn't it?"  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Theta said as Koschei held the mask in front of his face.  
"Why?" Koschei asked with mild disinterest.  
"Because I still haven't found a way for getting the light out of your mind again after it has entered and I'm not quite sure if it can be harmful if you're exposed to it for too long of a period and by the way there's a mechanism somewhere on the side that allows the mask to latch onto anything that has body temperature therefore I wouldn't hold it too close to…"

Koschei froze in mid-motion before dropping off Theta, stiff as a poker.  
He barely noticed Theta scrambling onto all fours as the mask he had put on clasped at his face automatically.

And then there was light.  
And darkness. A darkness filled with light and the most indescribable beautiful colours he'd ever seen.  
Koschei saw it, the pure light of a supernova, the glints as stars were born and burst into bloom.  
It was all there, right in front of him.  
He felt himself floating in space, spinning weightless and light-headed through eternity.

Theta had been watching the stars. No, not just the stars.  
He'd watched the pristine beauty of the universe itself.

Koschei took a deep breath, sucking the nothingness of existence into his lungs.  
His mind was ablaze with life, pure, swirling life.

It was _alive_. The universe itself was alive, sloshing through his veins, beating with his pulse.  
He could _feel_ it.  
Dwelling among the stars.

Covered in stardust.  
Invincible.  
And no one could catch them...


End file.
